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25 September 2012

Arsenal of Freedom

Episode: s1, ep
21Title: Arsenal of Freedom

This is a surprisingly action-packed episode in which there
are no staff meetings and we see lots of shooting and some fancy flying.

What Happens

The Enterprise
is sent to the Lorenz cluster to investigate the disappearance of the USS Drake, which was investigating the
disappearance of intelligent life from planet Minos. The ship is hailed by an
automated salesman, the planet was known for making and selling weapons. Their
slogan was “Peace through superior firepower.” Tasha wants a small team sent
down to assess the danger (as opposed to the dozens that normally go on these
jaunts), so she, Riker and Data beam down to a misty jungle. Riker sees his old
friend Captain Rice of the Drake, who
intensely asks various, odd questions, and turns out to be an
information-gathering hologram. A flying drone shoots Riker with a stasis field
so he can’t beam away. Picard takes Dr Crusher to the planet, despite Troi’s
protest. Geordi is left in command.

Riker is alive, but it will take
Data a while to release him. Another flying drone shoots at the away team and
Picard and Crusher flee before falling down a hole. Crusher is injured and must
guide Picard through first aid. Tasha and Data destroy the drone then Data
frees Riker. Before the away team can be beamed up the Enterprise
is attacked in orbit. The attacker cloaks whenever they try to lock on, and
Geordi’s decisions and rank are questioned by Chief Engineer Logan. After he is
unable to locate the attacker, Geordi takes the ship out of orbit, gives the
saucer section to Logan
and returns to rescue the away team.

A third flying drone means Data
has to literally throw Tasha out of the way. This one is even harder to kill,
they’re upgrading. Meanwhile down the hole, Picard can’t find an exit, but he
discovers they’re in a control chamber. The holographic salesman appears trying
to sell the ultimate weapon system. It can take out ground personnel and ships;
it learns, upgrades, and is invincible once activated. Here is what destroyed
the populace. The orginal away team find the hole, Picard and Data are stumped
by the machine until Beverley points out they should turn it off. Picard has to
pretend to buy it so the saleshologram shuts down the drones. Meanwhile Geordi
takes the ship into atmosphere, where the turbulence means they can locate and
destroy the cloaked attacker.

Guest Star

Vincent Schiavelli, plays the holographic salesman. He’s got
one of those faces you recognise from various things, and is a great character
actor.

Riker: lover,
adventurer, middle-management

Riker goes on about Captain Rice of the Drake, who he knew (and presumably had a crush on) at the Academy.
Rice is described as a risk-taker and arrogant, but also normally right. Riker
explains that in one Academy test Rice rejected the 3 accepted answers and
submitted his own, now there are 4 accepted answers.* Troi chimes in with a
perspective on how such a man might react to stress or threats. It’s odd that
they build Rice up so much since he’s already dead and all we see of him is a decoy.
Although there’s an expectation that Rice will be in the episode, it’s clear
from the circumstances (especially all the talk about lifesigns) that it isn’t
really him. I don’t think the revelation about Rice has as much pathos as the
writers were intending. That said it is funny when Riker tests the hologram by
saying he’s serving on the newly-commissioned Lollipop, which is a good ship.

Riker gets frozen by a stasis field and is motionless for
quite a while. At least he wasn’t pulling a stupid face when it happened.

Does Not Compute

Data is able to safely jump down over 11 metres, everyone
seems surprised by this. I know Data doesn’t exactly have an instruction
manual, but surely at some time while he was in Star Fleet someone tested his
capabilities? I’m not sure why Riker fusses about this so much, Data should be
able to judge his own abilities and while he might not be indestructible he can
be reassembled.

Counsellor Pointless

In this episode Troi shows an advantage of having a
Counsellor (rather than an ineffective empath) on the Bridge. Geordi is facing
a lot of stress, he’s outside his comfort zone and being contradicted by a
higher-ranking officer. Troi has a quiet word, not only to keep him calm, but
to emphasise the importance of showing confidence in the inexperienced crew
members. I wonder if she has had this chat with Picard? It seems like he could
use it sometimes.

Blind Engineering

Geordi is put in charge of the bridge in the absence of
Picard, Riker and Data,** even though there are higher-ranking crew onboard. I
don’t understand how seniority works, since I know Troi (who doesn’t know how
to fly or fix a spaceship) can be left in charge in an emergency. Chief
Engineer Logan questions Geordi and makes a power-play by demanding Geordi
relinquishes command. Geordi sticks to his guns and even comes up with a
solution that appeases the contrary Chief.

Geordi’s plan is a bold and clever one. Once it’s clear they
can’t accurately track or anticipate the attacker Geori forces it to show
itself by descending into atmosphere. With Troi’s advice he’s able to guide
inexperienced crew through a difficult situation. The attacker is destroyed,
the away team is rescued and no children were put in extra danger to do it. I
have to say I found Geordi a bit boring before, but I have renewed respect for
him now. He absolutely deserves the enthusiastic “Engage” at the end of the
episode.

Doctor Doctor

Despite being injured Beverley manages to guide Picard
through caring for her. As well as standard considerations like how to treat
shock (which he ignores), she also shows her skills as a herb woman. She gets
Picard to test and taste some roots and from what he tells her realises that
they’ll work as an anticoagulant/painkiller.She knows this because her
grandmother was a doctor on a colony with few supplies so she had to experiment
with natural remedies, and taught Beverley her knowledge. It’s lucky that the
same rules apply on this entirely alien planet and that root was useful and not
very poisonous.

Beverley often seems to be the voice of common sense. I love
that she had to point out that they should turn the weapons system off, in
order to disable it. I get the impressions there aren’t many off-switches in
the future

Management Technique

Picard helps Beverley with her injuries at first, carefully
following her instructions, but then he seems to get a bit bored with the whole
first aid thing. So he orders her to stay conscious (even though she’s in shock
and he knows she needs to be kept warm and awake) and wanders off to look for a
way out.

That Beverley is still alive, and conscious, when he comes
back is a testament to her willpower.

Random Crewmembers

I don’t know what happened to Chief Engineer Argyle, but I
don’t like his replacement. Logan (who, despite his name, doesn’t seem to be Scottish)
initially tries to get Geordi to leave orbit. Logan’s demand that he take command seems a
bit presumptuous, but he could honestly want what’s best for the ship. However
when Geordi does break orbit Logan
argues with him again, making it clear that he’s just power hungry. Despite his
contrary and argumentative nature, Geordi gives Logan the saucer section and charges him with
taking it to safety.

Ensign T’Su and Lieutenant Solis are young crew who are guided through the
attacks, rescue mission and flying in atmosphere. They acquit
themselves well, though don’t get much thanks at the end.

Planet Of… Arms Dealers

The planet of Minos (which is not pronounced the same way as
the ‘father’ of the Minotaur) makes weapons and sells them to whoever will buy.
I wonder why they’re not in the Federation?

They learn the error of their ways when they are all killed
by their own weapons, or presumably they would’ve if they weren’t all dead. I
think there’s a message here (shocking, I know) about the dangers of commerce
taking over a society.*** And probably something about war being bad too.

Death by Space
Misadventure

All the intelligent life on Minos dies. The entire crew of
the Drake was presumably destroyed soon after they arrived at Minos.

Won’t Somebody Think
of the Children?

The Enterprise
is being attacked. The ship is in danger, as well as the away team. Geordi
retreats to a safe distance, splits the ship, and sends the children out of harms way. This is exactly the thing that
Picard didn’t want to do last episode. Does the cost of every saucer separation
get docked from the Captain's pay?

The End

Riker and Picard are mock angry at Geordi for separating the
ship, but their approval shines through. Geordi stays in the big chair on the Battle Bridge
and says “Engage”. It’s clear he loves it, which is nice.

* Is this guy supposed to be like Kirk? I think this guy is
supposed to be like Kirk.

** Should so many of the senior staff be going on away
missions? Geordi handles himself well, but it’s clear he’s not used to this
situation and his status is open to questions.

*** Actually I can
get behind this message, and it’s not as heavy-handed as it could’ve been.